"Perfectly stunning how you Americans grasp things!" commented
Eugene, agape with admiration. "But I say, old chap, that's a joke
about the weapons. Really, we shan't need them."

"You're quite right; I was joking," returned Courtney gravely. "I'll
go right up and have some chairs and tables put out on the loggia."

"I knew it would be a deuced lot of bother for you," regretted
Eugene apologetically. "It's a lot of face in us to ask it. So
crude, you know. By the way, should you say that this Mr. Gamble
chap was all sorts reliable?"

"Absolutely," Courtney emphatically assured him.

"Ow," returned Eugene reflectively. "And his solicitor fellow,
Loring?"

"Perfectly trustworthy."

"Ow," commented Eugene, and fell into a study so deep that Courtney
was able to escape without being missed.

In the library, where he went to ring for a servant, he found
Constance Joy looking gloomily out of a window, with a magazine
upside down in her hands. She immediately rose.

"Don't let me disturb you," begged Courtney as he rang the bell. "Do
you know where I can find Johnny Gamble?"

"I really couldn't say," replied Constance sweetly. "I left him out